The present invention relates to a float for a small-sized watercraft, and more particularly, it relates to a float attachment for removably mounting a float on a small-sized watercraft.
Some small-sized watercraft have been mainly used in water sports or for leisure purposes, which is suited to running about the water areas near the shore, under the control of a rider on a rear deck of the craft who manipulates a bar handle projecting upwardly from the bow portion of the shell of the craft.
Such a small-sized watercraft runs at a high speed (for example, at a speed of 50 km/h) and has excellent mobility, and, in general, has an engine arranged in an engine room or compartment formed in the bow portion of the shell of the watercraft and a propulsion means arranged in the stern portion of the shell. The watercraft is so constructed that the propulsion means is driven by the engine and the craft is steered by changing the direction of a propellant force generated by the propulsion means.
The propulsion means may be, for example, a water jet system wherein the propellant force is obtained by jetting rearwardly the water sucked from tee bottom of the craft by means of a jet pump. Normally, such water jet system can control the steering of the craft by changing orientation of a duct from which a water jet is ejected.
The propulsion means is mounted in a recess which is formed in the stern bottom portion of the watercraft and is opened downwardly, the lower opening of the recess being closed by a cover which constitutes a part of the bottom of the watercraft.
In the small-sized watercraft having the above-mentioned construction, the buoyancy of the watercraft when anchored is so selected that the craft is floating on the water in its vacant condition but may be nearly sunk when a rider get it on. Since the buoyancy of the watercraft is very small as stated above, it is very difficult for a beginner to get on the deck of the watercraft in the water.
In this connection, it has been proposed to provide float attachments for removably mounting a float on the watercraft so that the beginner could easily get on the craft placed in the water. An example of such float attachment is disclosed in WO 85/01486 (PCT/US 84/01221).
Such a conventional float attachment is so constructed that U-shaped floats are inserted from the bow and the stern onto guides consisting of flange portions, formed at junctions (on the sides of the craft) between a deck and a hull.
However, in the above conventional float attachment, there arise problems that the float itself is large or huge, and that clouds of spray are generated by striking water against the float during the running of the craft and the float situated on one side of the craft is immersed further into the water during the cornering of the craft with the result that water resistance increases to decelerate the watercraft.